Anthropic commits 5% of its shares to a new Public Benefit Fund

Claude developer Anthropic announced on 18 October that it is creating the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund and committing 5% of the company’s shares to it, subject to stockholder approval.

How it works

• The board may add a further 2% of shares for every 50% increase in Anthropic’s value above a baseline that has not yet been disclosed.
• The fund is set up as a wholly owned LLC, not a 501(c)(3) charity, which Anthropic says gives flexibility between different forms of giving — for example large donations to nonprofits or direct distributions to specific populations.
• One example the company gives is the impact of AI on the labour market: it says it has already committed $200 million to studying and addressing it and that “bolder approaches may be needed”.
• None of the fund’s Anthropic equity will be used for lobbying or political giving, in the US or abroad.

Context

Anthropic, a Delaware public benefit corporation, says its co-founders pledged to donate 80% of their equity and that about half of employees take part in an equity donation match. Together with the new fund, it says roughly 20% of its shares would be dedicated to the public good. The company says details of the fund’s governance and the valuation milestones will be published in the coming months. Reuters and Al Jazeera reported the announcement, noting that AI firms face growing scrutiny over the risks of the technology.